Nightmares of Moonlight
by Ganurath
Summary: There is something akin to strength to be found in desperation, in that small place between panic in the face of an enormous difficulty and the hope of overcoming it. To know the horrors that lurk in the future of the shinobi world is enough to make a young man truly desperate. SI
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** If you think Naruto belongs to anyone with an account on this website, I have a bridge in the Land of Grass I'd like to sell you.

I had never expected to be reborn into the world of Naruto, but apparently that was what happened. It took me a while to figure out where I was, but the reincarnation thing was relatively easy to puzzle out.

The dividing line between the mind and the soul, and the existence of the later, was a matter of frequent discussion in certain circles, a few of which I participated in. I was skeptical of the soul's existence, due to the consequences of brain damage and similar such matters and how that impacted an individual's identity. Some held my position for the same reasons, some for different reasons, and many others held fast to the belief in the existence of the soul. According to those I had spoken with in the last group, what happened to the mind wouldn't impact what happened to the soul.

As it turns out, we were all wrong.

There's a part of the brain that converts short-term memory into long-term memory. I knew the term "hippocampus" was somehow relevant to the process, but I couldn't remember for the life of me (either of them) if that was the section of the brain that performed the conversion or a chemical it used to do so. If that part of the brain is nonfunctional, though, no memory I had was going to last longer than a few minutes.

This particular piece of trivia was relevant to the process of reincarnation for two reasons. First, it meant that I couldn't remember how I my first life had ended. One could argue that it was a mercy, but it did make the transition uncomfortably… abrupt would be the best term. It had just been a stressful day at work, and then suddenly I was dead for some reason.

Second, though, it made the baby years _weird_. Not as weird as they would have been, but it was still an odd experience. There was a vague sense of consciousness, the steady indoctrination of new information, and then suddenly I was a toddler in a world that was simultaneously new and familiar. It was like I had a really vivid dream, and woke up on the wrong end of reality.

The new information consisted mostly of a new language, which subsequently made it difficult to think of my old life. My memories were in English, but my thoughts were in Japanese, and since one hadn't been used to help me learn the other translation was particularly difficult. It felt like my brain was full to bursting, too, so eventually I stopped trying to remember anything more than images and what little of my experience was in Japanese. Some manga here, some martial arts there, it was enough to remember home by since my friends and family were both active in the latter.

I don't want to say I got over losing them easily, but I'd say I handled it easier than most. It probably helped that I had had a mental disorder in my previous life that, among other attributes, made it so that I became rather attached to whatever status quo my life had, with whatever lumps it brought. For me, the comfort of routine was particularly comfortable. So, while I missed the friends and family of my old life, my thoughts were too focused on the day to day of my new life to pay the matter any mind beyond the odd bout of tears at night.

Likely not the healthiest mental state, but it was what it was.

My new life had provided a fulfilling environment to live in, even if it had been a bit primitive compared to what I was used to. For the most part, it had seemed like a stereotypical Japanese farming community. I'd had loving parents, an older brother, a baby sister, and a family dog that was _huge_. If I still had an adult body, Shita would've been bigger than a horse, in terms of relative scale. I'd been lucky that he was such a sweet dog. My brother had been less than sweet, though. Apparently, I'd cried a lot as a baby, so he didn't like me as much as a big brother ought to. That is to say, he'd given me a hard time whenever our parents weren't watching, generally calling me words that probably would've been hurtful if I knew what they meant. It hadn't been until I started doing magic tricks that he finally began to warm up to me.

Well, he'd thought of them as magic tricks. It took a while before I had figured out what was actually going on. All throughout this life, I could feel a sort of energy in… pretty much everything. It was probably something I had figured that everyone else was used to feeling, assuming they felt it at all, but for me? It was something new, different, and ultimately unknown.

There was no way that I could _not_ experiment.

I'd started out by making puffs of air that I would shoot out of my hand. I had managed about two or three a day, both in terms of having the time unsupervised to focus on the task and in terms of physical stamina. Manipulating the air was exhausting, and compound that on helping out with chores around the farm… well, it was only a matter of time until I got sloppy. Luckily for me, my brother was the only one who'd found out.

The _reason_ he was the only one to find out, though, was less fortunate. As it turned out, the farming community I'd grown up on was part of a militarily overextended nation whose neighbors had enough combatants to spare for supply raids. So, when our farms were harvesting crops a couple months after my brother had found me out… it wasn't an event I liked the idea of reflecting upon. The aftermath, however, was the most important part of my life.

I'd been walking away from… what had happened, hoping to find some sign that I hadn't been the only survivor. Unfortunately, I hadn't been able to see, hear, or sense anyone. Well, until a soft and drawling voice spoke up from _right behind me_.

"You did well, to survive as you have." My entire body had gone rigid in panic, and I'd looked over my shoulder to see… that nobody was there. I'd thought my mind was playing tricks on me, so I sighed and turned my focus back in front of _holyshithe'srightthere!_ "Did you see who attacked your village?"

I'd seen, although I hadn't recognized the symbol that identified the attackers until I saw the man in front of me. That the recognition had only come to me then hadn't prevented me from using my finger to draw the symbol of Kumo's forehead protector in the dirt for Orochimaru, who was wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it.

"I suspected as much, but it's good to have someone who saw the attack who can describe what happened to your daimyo." It had taken me a second to process that, and I'd looked up at Orochimaru once I figured it out. Judging by the look on his face, I'd been able to quickly determine that I was terrible at reading faces beyond picking up on his mild amusement. "Tell me, child. Would you like to tell the daimyo what happened here? It would help to convince him to take steps against this from happening again."

I should've just quietly agreed. Asking questions about the future wasn't the sort of thing a child my age was supposed to do. At least, I didn't _think_ so. I wasn't so confident that I'd bet my life on it, that much was certain. So why did I do just that? "What'll happen to me after I tell the daimyo what happened?"

Orochimaru had smiled and, after seeing me cringe, gently patted me on the head. "If he decides to listen to my advice, you'll never be helpless again."

The implication behind that promise was that I was going to be trained as a ninja. It wasn't an implication he could've reasonably expected me to pick up on, but I was more informed than he'd known. It was a matter I'd felt conflicted about. On one hand, ninja training would involve hard work, and Orochimaru wasn't the sort who coddled his subordinates. On the other hand…

On the other hand, I couldn't be helpless. Not after what had just happened. Not with everything I knew was coming. I'd nodded; having made up my mind, and let Orochimaru lead me to wherever it was that he'd wanted me to go.

As it turned out, being a minion for Orochimaru was a learning experience.

Which was good, because I didn't want to get trapped in a global illusion, and I needed every advantage I could muster to stop that from happening.


	2. Chapter 2

The walk to wherever the daimyo kept his court had promised to be a long one, so Orochimaru had decided to assess my aptitude for general knowledge, physical fitness, and chakra manipulation in order to pass the time. I didn't trust myself to be able to fool him about my being more intelligent than the average… however old I was. So, I showed off that I was a physically fit and abnormally intuitive young boy whose only real downside was a lack of literacy.

My attempt to demonstrate my capacity for chakra manipulation hadn't had the desired effect, though. He'd narrowed his eyes as I stirred the air, and after a sharp intake of breath he'd knelt next to me and grasped my hands. I'd felt him use… some sort of energy to reach inside my hands, but whatever it did made him relax a bit.

"Sakebi, was it?" I'd nodded, because that was the name I'd been called the few times I wasn't child, son, or brat. It had, surprisingly, been the first thing he asked me when the questions had started. "I need you to listen very carefully. That energy that you used to make wind is _not_ chakra."

"…What?"

"It's called _shizen_ energy." One of the issues with growing up in a world with an unfamiliar language was that I had to rebuild my vocabulary all over again. Spending time with Orochimaru helped, though. "If you get too much of it inside you, you'll start to turn into a snake, or a statue."

And that was when I remembered _natural_ energy. The surprise and fear must have shown on my face, because Orochimaru had been quick to redirect the conversation toward how to use my own chakra without tapping into the stupidly dangerous energies that were all around us. It wasn't until I'd shown the ability to safely do so that he'd begun asking about how I was aware of natural energy. At that point, he'd been much more pleasantly surprised by just how sensitive of a sensor I was, to be able to pick up on the stuff. The rest of the journey to the daimyo's court had been focused on gauging the range and precision of my senses, and honing them so that I able to use my sensory ability more effectively.

Once we arrived in the city I could only assume was the capitol of whatever country I'd been living in, though… I was _instructed_. A bit of it was advice on how to be properly respectful of nobility, but most of what he'd had to say consisted of recommendations on how to act like a normal child. Hopefully, that was nothing more than him acknowledging that I seemed to be a genius, rather than an adult in the body of a child.

As it turned out, though, all I'd really needed to know was that I should address everyone as a 'sama' and wait until I was addressed to speak. Which, thanks to the daimyo being the sort that encouraged his courtiers to speak freely… meant I'd been standing in a room full of fat, perfumed men in fancy outfits for at least an hour after I told them about the attack on my village.

On the bright side, I was learning new words.

One of the more vocal critics of Orochimaru's proposal to form a ninja village for the country was a bird-nosed man named Shitozei. He appealed to those who hated shinobi more than fearing them and those who were proud of their station by insulting Orochimaru and I, respectively. His actual talking points, however, focused on a single issue. "So, even by the most generous estimates provided by my esteemed peers, it would be more costly to fund this shinobi village than to replace what was lost in the attack."

"My advisor raises a valid concern." The daimyo, Hokori-sama, smiled to himself. He had a tendency to agree with the last person to spoke, but I wasn't sure if it was an act or if he was just that easy to manipulate. Now, though, he looked toward where Orochimaru was standing behind me. "Unless there are financial factors that haven't been given proper consideration?"

A question had been addressed in my general direction, which gave me an excuse to speak. This was good, because I'd been bored and annoyed for a while now. "Hokori-sama, I didn't hear anything in that cost… summary? I didn't hear anything about bringing my little sister back from the dead."

The daimyo's eyebrows shot up at that. "Back from the dead?"

"He said 'replace what was lost in the attack.'" I made sure to stick my nose in the air when I impersonated Shitozei's voice. I heard chuckles from a couple of courtiers, and saw the beginnings of a smile on the daimyo's face as well. "The lives of my family and neighbors were lost. I figured if he was considering the costs of everything, he would've included the cost of putting my baby sister back together after the house she was inside, my house, exploded when-"

A hand rested on my shoulder, and I looked up and behind me at Orochimaru. He wasn't wearing the Akatsuki robe at the moment, favoring a pink… whatever the male equivalent of a kimono was. His expression was somewhere between approving and reassuring, but it was hard to tell because there was something in my eye.

As I took a moment to get it out, I heard Shitozei speak up again. "It would not cost much to encourage new families to move into the rebuilt community in order to work the farms, if it would cost anything at all. I suppose the brat's survival does create the irritation of an orphan running around…"

Wow. Fuck you, bird nose. I didn't need to fake the shock on my face as I looked toward the daimyo for a reaction. "Hokori-sama?"

Out of the corner of my eye, Shitozei bristled. "You dare interrupt-"

"Shitozei." The daimyo didn't use _any_ honorific to address him. That, coupled with a tone of voice that sounded almost venomous, told me that I'd scored a win. It seemed that the daimyo hadn't been waffling due to being easily manipulated. "Sakebi-kun is a guest in my court, not an irritation. At least, he is no more of an irritation than you are."

"…Y-yes, Hokori-sama."

"He raises a valid concern, as well. There is a price in the lives of my people to be considered, lives that aren't so easily replaced as some might believe."

A particularly fat courtier, who I'd pegged as being more fearful of shinobi than hateful, nodded in agreement. "Future attacks would mean more dead civilians, too. The danger that these shinobi from the Land of Lightning represent can't be dismissed."

Hokori nodded, a smile coming to his face. "Orochimaru-dono, how do you plan to maintain the population of this hidden village you propose?"

"I understand that there are several shinobi clans that have been living in your land since before the Hidden Village system was established." Orochimaru placed a hand on my shoulder, and I looked up at him. He had looked down toward me, and was smiling with surprising warmth. It was getting harder and harder to reconcile the man who'd saved me from the Kumo-nin with the murderous traitor from my past memories. "These clans, coupled with the orphans of your land and nuke-nin from other lands, will be enough to populate your forces."

One of the greedier courtiers I hadn't caught the name of spoke up. "I heard rumor from some merchants that the Land of Water was considering a cessation of the bloodline purges. Would you still be able to acquire bloodline shinobi, if such were to occur?"

"Even if the rumors are true, the shinobi in question would not forget being hunted." There was a faint undertone of excitement in Orochimaru's voice. It wasn't surprising, considering that the guy had a murder boner for new jutsu. He went on to say some stuff about the political climate that, due to my limited vocabulary, went over my head. From there, the discussion went on, but the dialogue had shifted from whether or not there would be a hidden village to figuring out how the hidden village would work. Apparently, my interjection had swung us a win.

…I was thinking of Orochimaru and I as 'us.' That was a _very_ dangerous line of thought.

"If a decision has been made," I glanced toward Shitozei, who'd decided to speak up again, "I'm curious as to whether or not the orphans will have any choice in whether or not they become a shinobi."

Alright, that was a big shift from his previous position of being dismissive toward me. Apparently, this guy was going to say whatever it took to hinder the formation of a hidden village in the area. At this point, it was crossing the line between 'annoying' and 'suspicious.'

I looked toward the daimyo to gauge his reaction to Shitozei's shift in position, but he just looked at me expectantly. Ah, right. I was an orphan now. I'd been trying not to think about that. "I want to be a shinobi, Hokori-sama."

"Food, clothing, equipment, and residence for your shinobi were all included in the estimated expenses, Hokori-sama." Orochimaru's hand was on my shoulder again, and the tension left my shoulders that I hadn't known had been there. It was tricky, standing properly at attention while bored out of my mind. "Sakebi-kun will not be the only orphan in your land eager to receive training."

The discussion went on for a bit after that, focused mainly on what the training would involve. Well, it sounded like it any way. Words for children and various measures of time came up a lot. Once that was wrapped up, though, Hokori waved his hand dismissively. "I expect to hear great things of our shinobi, Orochimaru-dono."

I heard Orochimaru shift to bow behind me, and a touch of his hand on the small of my back prompted me to do the same. It was a prearranged signal, as was his removal of the hand indicating that I should _stop_ bowing. Once we were both upright, Orochimaru spoke with a smile in his voice. "I have full confidence that they'll surpass your wildest expectations." 

* * *

The education system that Orochimaru wound up setting up was like a hybrid of the Konoha Academy and Root. On one hand, it was a mix of a conventional school system with chakra and combat training. On the other hand… everyone had a training partner that they were supposed to work with. Officially, the reason was so that the clan children could support the orphan students, since the latter didn't have the same advantages as the former.

The partner program, however, made me worry. It helped to remind me the sort of person that Orochimaru _was_ , but it made me worry. My memory of Naruto canon was imperfect at best, but I remembered that Root paired trainees up with each other like the Unsullied were paired up with puppies.

My partner, though… he was a child, my age if not younger. He had messy blonde hair, hazel eyes… he could've been a by-blow off the Yamanakas. Either that or he could've been an abductee. Whatever he was, he certainly wasn't a blood relation to the man with dark hair and eyes who was bringing him to the Oto Shinobi Academy, which totally wasn't an underground lab with non-gloomy colors and better lighting.

"So, this is Kusemaru's orphan partner?" The dark haired man sneered down at me, but he was addressing the Academy's instructor.

She was a round-faced kunoichi who seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn't place where I'd seen her before. She wore the same outfit as Orochimaru's Oto-sensei disguise from the Chunin Exam Preliminaries, although it took me a moment to recognize it. It was basically a midnight blue body suit and a slate gray Chunin vest.

She was also ready to take exactly zero fucks from this guy. "Yes, he's Kusemaru's partner. Get over it! Do you have any idea how many clan shinobi I've heard complaining about this partner program because they think that being stuck with an orphan is going to hold them back?"

"I was made to understand that that the point of the program was to help the orphans." Mister Sneer hadn't taken his eyes off me. For my part, I looked toward my partner, who gave an apologetic smile. This, unfortunately, earned him a smack upside the head. "I fail to see what Kusemaru, or any child of the Kiaino clan, has to gain from it."

Retail Worker Sensei glanced up as she started counting things Kusemaru had to gain off on her fingers. "A loyal ally, respect for the clan from outsiders, a way to check to make sure they understand what they're studying, someone to spar with-"

The elder Kiaino scoffed at the last one. "What does Kusemaru have to gain from sparring with a brat who's never even used chakra?"

Alright, that warranted a retort. I used chakra to make a small orb of light on the tip of my middle finger, which I extended from my fist as I held it up for my critic to see. He looked surprised, at least at first, but then he narrowed his eyes and…

I was going to die.

This man was going to kill me, and I couldn't think of anything I could do to stop it. All I could think about was how he was going to kill me. Every moment, I could see him pulling out a kunai and stabbing me, could see nothing _but_ that. _Feel_ nothing but that. The pain alone was more horrible than anything I'd experienced in either lifetime.

And then, it was over.

Retail Rage Sensei was standing where Kiaino had been, a fist extended toward a door that had been shut a moment ago. Kusemaru was idly pulling me upright, since apparently I'd fallen to my knees at some point, but he was also staring at our teacher with naked horror on his face. Woozily, I gripped his shoulder and struggled to pull myself upright.

"I think I'm going to like it here." My mouth tasted kind of stingy and gross. I glanced down, and… yep. "Once I get the taste of sick out of my mouth, anyway."

Retail Rage Sensei smirked in satisfaction, but she didn't look toward us until a pained groan came from the other side of the doorway. "Kiaino Kusemaru, you're partnered with Sakebi here. I'm Unmei-sensei, and I'll be in charge of you two and a couple dozen other brats for the next couple of years. This room we're in is going to be the quarters for the both of you. Do either of you need to learn how to read?"

Kusemaru shook his head, and he would've said something, but I got my hand up first. Unmei-sensei nodded in satisfaction at that. "Kusemaru, I expect you to help Sabeki with his written work until he learns how to read and write for himself. That, and teach him how to read the map on the wall. It has your class schedule on it in the corner."

Unmei-sensei pointed, and we looked at… what looked to be a rather complex map. Kusemaru would need to read it to me, but there was no way a normal kid his age would comprehend it without assistance. Oto was going to need to be festooned with geniuses for this system to be workable.

I took the pause in the lecture to wipe my mouth on my sleeve. Yuck.

"Any questions, or can I move on to dragging Kiaino-san off to the iryo nin?"

Kusemaru looked at me, and I shook my head. The map and the schedule covered most of everything I'd need, and from I saw our quarters had all the essential amenities. I'd probably head to the bathroom to clean up once we were done here.

Kusemaru nodded, and then turned toward Unmei-sensei. "No questions, sensei."

What.

Kusemaru sounded just like Wesley Crusher.

What was this how the what.

Something was poking me in the forehead. I blinked, and looked… up at Unmei-sensei.

Well, this certainly promised to be awkward. She frowned a bit, and then went through a few hand signs and shoved an itchy green glow in my face. "Sakebi-kun?"

I waved at her hands, which got a frown, but it also got her to step back. "He sounded… like someone I remember. From my home."

It was true enough that whatever lie detection training wouldn't ping it, and provided a decent excuse not to discuss the matter further. At least, I wouldn't have to explain it if she'd been briefed. Judging by the nod, though, she knew about how Orochimaru had found me. "That reminds me. Kusemaru, Sabeki's village got killed by Kumo shinobi that were raiding. If he says he doesn't want to talk about something relating to that, then he doesn't have to talk about it."

With that, she marched out the door, stopping to pick up the pile of angry idiot outside. "Last thing I need to deal with are brats crying when I haven't even started hitting them yet."

I was suddenly less enthusiastic to study at the Oto Shinobi Academy.

Judging by the look on Kusemaru's face, he wasn't a fan of Unmei-sensei's implied teaching methods, either. And unlike me, he had all the composure of a child his age, so… distraction. "Kusemaru-san? What does the schedule say?"

"Ah!" He startled, looking at me in bewilderment before he hustled over to the map. Thankfully for both of us, he was mindful of the mess I'd made. "Umm… it says our lessons don't start until tomorrow. I think we just have free time? I'm going to practice my music."

Of course an Oto nin would pursue music for a hobby. I nodded before I jerked a thumb toward the bathroom. "I'll clean up the mess I made while you do that."

The bathroom was decently stocked. It was downright modern, to the point that there were even electric sockets. Made me wonder what sort of power plants they used. Well, aside from the power plants being well-guarded.

My idle curiosity was cut short by the need to rinse my mouth out, and the faucet was more than sufficient to accommodate me. With that done, I turned my attention to figuring out how to clean up the vomit. The trash bin was wicker, but lined with a plastic bag. I checked, and was relieve to find that there weren't any holes. Now I just needed to find something to get the vomit from the floor into the bag.

As the music started playing, I looked out of the bathroom to see what sort of instrument it was, and got my… third shock of the day. The blonde boy was playing an ocarina. Just like the blonde boy with amnesia from that one Naruto filler. I couldn't remember the character's name, but he'd had amnesia so he hadn't remembered either. Naruto… probably would've named him after a ramen ingredient, but I didn't know any.

…If the writers of the show had made an Ocarina of Thyme joke that went over everyone's head, I was going to have to find _someone_ to punch.

Apparently I'd smiled at the horrific pun, due to horrific puns being the best puns, judging by how Kusemaru smiled when he noticed my attention. "You like it? The adults in my clan say I need to get better before I can use the music for jutsu."

"It reminded me of happier times." He frowned at that. Why- oh, _shit_. I waved my free hand frantically. "In a good way! In a good way. You can keep practicing; I just need to find something to scoop the mess into the bag."

He nodded and went to start playing again, but then he stopped. Setting the ocarina aside, he went through his bag and pulled out… well. No wooden training kunai for Oto nin, if Kusemaru's kit was any indicator. He held the weapon out for me, holding the handle but pointing the ring my way. "Would this work?"

I grabbed the weapon by the ring, switching to the handle after he'd let it go. It could certainly scrape down to the stone floor, but without a concave section… maybe two? No, I'd need both hands for the kunai, and that left me with nothing to hold the bag open. Kusemaru might be willing to help at _first_ , but if past experience was any indicator most people didn't have the stomach for cleaning up vomit.

"What are you brats doing?"

Kusemaru and I both looked toward the doorway to see a Faceless Invasion Mook… with cleaning supplies.

Well, that certainly made _my_ day easier.

It gave me time to figure out how to _not_ kill Kusemaru when graduation rolled around, at least. 

* * *

The actually training schedule, as it turned out, varied between monotonous and torturous. On the monotonous side of things was conventional education, where the only things I would actually _learn_ were history and literacy. I did have to admit; at least they were _useful_ subjects to learn.

As it turned out, a couple years ago Hokori-sama had tried to send the shinobi clans of the land into the Land of Hot Water with a mind for conquest after their hidden village had been disbanded and, afterward, wiped out. Unfortunately for all involved, the reason for this was due to Kumo trying to secure their influence over one of the political buffers that had allowed them to pursue offensives with ease during the previous Shinobi Wars.

So, a bunch of disorganized clans with Warring States mindsets went into the Land of Hot Water looking for easy pickings and got a face full of katana-wielding war veterans. Now, Kumo was taking out their frustration over losing a high ranking shinobi to a diplomatic incident in Konoha that totally wasn't a squandered kidnapping.

Unmei-sensei made sure to include the sarcasm in that part of the explanation.

The torturous parts were taijutsu and the chakra exercises. Taijutsu was torture because everyone was magically more physically fit than me. It hadn't been until I'd gotten the explanation of the chakra exercises that I found out that how to enhance by body passively with chakra. After which point, I'd start kicking everyone's butts, which lead to everyone hating me and working that much harder to kick _my_ butt.

The worst part, though, were the chakra exercises.

Apparently, building up immunity to a particular poison was too expensive as applied to a single shinobi. Compound on that the sheer variety of poisons that had been developed, and how overdoses of medicine could function as poison if need be? Immunization couldn't come from exposure alone. No, the best option was to develop a sort of internal medical technique to purge the unwanted substance internally. Or externally, if one anticipated they'd be consuming poison like alcohol in sake.

Poison resistance exercises for children did not involve sake, as much as everyone involved would have preferred otherwise. It did involve drinking, though. They were drinks which, due to their contents, tasted horrible more often than not. After all, it was better if we could recognize the taste of the poison so we could purge it before it started to hurt us.

This was _not_ a field where I excelled.

There were two forms of training that could be said to be truly interesting, though. Granted, they were interesting in a 'bounces between boring and torture' sort of way, but it counted. The first of these was specialty training. The clan kids would work on clan techniques with older family members, while orphans with special talents honed their innate abilities with older experts in their field. Most of the orphans, though, got to play with experimental weapons technology.

 _I_ got sensor training.

This involved, among other things, sparing with Unmei-sensei while wearing a blindfold.

If the flak jacket hadn't made it obvious, she could easily kick my ass even without the blindfold. With the blindfold, the sparing matches were more of a case of desperately trying to minimize my injuries until she got bored of smacking me around.

Thankfully, Kabuto had been recruited by this point, so the one-sided beatings meant spending plenty of time on one of the medical cots in his personal lab rather than suffering any sort of lasting injury. Admittedly the lesser of two evils, but he hadn't even started puberty yet, so he wasn't a completely horrible bastard yet. He was…

"I wouldn't need to heal you so often if you didn't suck so much at taijutsu."

Tactless. He was tactless, that was what he was. I would've rolled my eyes at him, but I was still blindfolded. So, I settled for scoffing. "You don't think that the blindfold is holding me back more than my taijutsu?"

"I think your being an idiot is holding you back more than anything else." As Kabuto continued to insult me, he turned his attention from the cut on my arm that he'd finished healing to some sort of blunt injury along my cheekbone. The medical jutsu felt _weird_ thanks to my sensory abilities, like the tissue being treated was somehow thicker than it ought to be. "Although, I _do_ think that the blindfold shouldn't be holding you back that much."

"Oh, I can't wait to hear this logic."

"You can't?" Kabuto paused in healing the bruise – definitely a bruise – and looked toward me expectantly. Did he not get sarcasm? No, he was smiling, he was just a dick. "Why not?"

Well, he wasn't the only one who could be a dick. "Because I have a limited supply of patience, and I'm wasting most of it on putting up with you being an ass, Kabuto-san."

Kabuto smiled. This was never a good thing. "You know, I'm only volunteering to provide medical attention to injured students. I don't _have_ to heal you."

I did not know that. "I'll be good!"

"Good." Kabuto nodded in satisfaction, and resumed healing me. After a few seconds, the grin came back to his face. "It seems you can wait."

I would've nodded, but he still wasn't quite done with my face. As it turned out, the level of precision needed for medical jutsu meant that a patient had to hold _really fucking still_ in order to avoid complicating the treatment. If it hadn't been safe for me to talk, though, he would've said something, so… "When properly motivated."

"Heh. Funny, Sakebi-kun. Your problem is that you aren't training as often as you could be." I gave him as quizzical of a look as I could manage while holding still. He took a moment to pause in his healing, which gave me an opportunity to give him a properly confused gaze. "Alright, let me put it like this. How much time do you spend training taijutsu."

"An hour a day. Well, two if you count specialty training, but by that logic my sensor…" Oh. By that logic, I'd be training as a sensor from the moment I woke up to the moment I fell asleep. I grabbed the pillow out from under my head and held it over my face. "Pardon me while I hide from my shame."

"Not in my lab, you're not." The words were followed by an ominous chuckle. I could feel Kabuto start to loom over me, and I peeked over the edge of the pillow. "Unless you want to help me with my experiments?"

I grumbled a moment before I shoved the pillow in his face. It was a halfhearted effort, so he was able to grab it away from me easily enough, but I noticed a brief flare of chakra as he was momentarily put on edge. Man, some ninja were _twitchy_. "I doubt I have the medical skill to be very helpful with anything _you_ would experiment with."

"Heh, that's a good point. Now, get out of here, Sakebi-kun." Kabuto playfully-but-not grabbed my shoulder and pulled me out of the cot. As I staggered upright, I rolled with the motion to begin walking toward the exit. No need to tell me twice. "And don't forget your sensory training!"

I flipped him off, because that gesture was totally a thing here if the sorer losers in my taijutsu class were any indicator. I felt him move in response, and ducked just in time for the pillow to fly over my head out the door. I glanced over my shoulder, smirking at Kabuto while still giving him the finger. "Like that, Kabuto-san?" 

* * *

The next day, my schedule had dual specialty training, with the science class replaced by medic training.

Seriously, _fuck_ Kabuto.


	3. Chapter 3

The important thing to remember about Otogakure is that nobody really taught being loyal to Otogakure as a village. I wasn't sure if it was egomania or a precaution against the local equivalent of Danzo, but either way the dogma of loyalty in the village was of a more personal nature than what was conventional. The clans were loyal to the clans, true, but the clan leaders were personally loyal to Orochimaru-sama due to what he promised to those clans. As for those of us without families… he also fostered personal loyalty.

The recruitment in the aftermath of disaster, I'd found from talking to my fellow orphans, was his default recruiting tactic. Granted, none of them had suffered so dramatic a disaster as I had, but he always came in the aftermath of a personal tragedy, such as being on the losing end of a brawl, or dealing with the consequences of a failed attempt at theft. While some of us, myself among them, would've preferred Orochimaru-sama had made himself present soon enough to prevent our tragedies, we all agreed that his reaching out to us was better than not.

He reached out to us in other ways, too, making himself an irregular yet consistent presence in our lives. Generally this was when we were allowed out of the Oto Shinobi Academy in order to get some sun, since it let him be _seen_ being beneficent toward children by the families living in the town the complex was hidden under. It likely saved him the trouble of having to navigate the tunnels, too. Not that it'd be beyond him, but… well, it'd be annoying.

In most cases, it was a report on the progress of training, couched with the visage of kindness. He'd give a gentle caress or pat on the shoulder, then a question about how classes are going. From my own experience, Orochimaru-sama was using some sort of reverse version of killing intent in conjunction with the caress. He'd praise milestones, and give advice on how to go about difficult matters more effectively.

It was a little impressive and scary at the same time, how capable he was at manipulating people.

The biggest component, though, were the gifts. Little possessions that cost him next to nothing, but the recipient would get frequent use out of, meaning he would be frequently thought of fondly. In many cases, including my own, the first gift had been those sandal-shoe things that all shinobi seem to wear. In all fairness, they were surprisingly comfortable.

He was usually on the mark with the gifts, too. He'd taken notice that I would use the free time we had on either physical conditioning or listening to the music of Kusemaru and his cousins. When asked, I'd parroted what Unmei-sensei had told me of how to expand chakra reserves. The next day, I'd been provided with a series of books to read.

Most of them were instructional, but a few were obscure books that pushed a variety of philosophies. Some were very much in line with what I expected, but others pushed philosophies contrary to what I'd expect from Orochimaru-sama. The most blatant violator was a certain book written by _Jiraiya_ , of all people. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't pornographic.

The latest gift, though… aside from the lenses being oval instead of circle, they looked as much like the goggles Shino wore in Shippuden as I could remember them. I frowned before I looked up at Orochimaru-sama. Thankfully, he didn't seem bothered by my confusion. "Kabuto-kun mentioned that you were putting increased effort into your sensor training. I thought this might help you."

"Oh?" I put the goggles on, and found that the insides of the lenses were no less opaque than the outsides. Which meant… I could go around blind without drawing attention to it, and therefore refine my sensory abilities continuously. "Oh. Thank you, Orochimaru-sama."

"Kabuto-kun has been pleased with your initial progress in the medical classes, and he wished that your sensor class be dropped in favor of it as well." I looked up at Orochimaru-sama in surprise. The medical studies had been focused mostly on performing autopsies and practicing with the diagnostic jutsu. Had I actually impressed someone between keeping my lunch down and learning the rudiments of hand seals?

I couldn't read his expression, though, so I lifted the goggles up to my forehead so I could see again. He smiled down at me, then put the goggles back down over my eyes and set his hand on my head. As he did, I felt the tension leave my body as his Not Killing Yet Intent washed over me. "If you make regular use of these goggles, I'll accommodate his request. If you do well, Sabeki-kun, you might even earn an early graduation from the Academy."

Um. "Early graduation? What would happen to my partner?"

"Not all orphans are recruited into the Academy at the same age. Even if I track down the last of the scattered clans in this country, clan partners for the orphans are a rarity." I heard an amused chuckle, and felt his silhouette shift to look out toward where the other students were playing behind us. Well, contact only sparring and playing musical instruments. Kusemaru, I knew, was guarding my books. "That is one of the reasons why I'm looking for opportunities to give talented minds like yours the chance to graduate early. While it's no secret that I always have an open door for rare abilities, there's nothing I cherish more than an intelligent subordinate."

This time, I wasn't sure if it was Orochimaru-sama using his Intent to reassure me, or genuine relief. How many of his minions with rare abilities had died in his service? How many researchers and scholars had he put in charge of his operations? The man hadn't hesitated to put his Cursed Seal on Kimimaro with his remarkably rare kekkei genkai, but Kabuto had been spared that danger for no other reason than talents that came from his own intellect.

And now, I was being spared the danger too.

I had come to the attention of Orochimaru-sama, and he saw me as a talent worth cultivating and keeping safe. If I was lucky, I might even be put into a position to change things for the better. I could prevent the implicit atrocities of Shippuden, with the Mass Edo Tensei, the rain of Tailed Beast Bombs, and the traumas that may come from the Infinite Tsukiyomi.

I _had a chance_.

No. I could _win_.

I bowed, low and formal. "I'll strive to surpass your wildest expectations, Orochimaru-sama."

That earned a warm chuckle from him, likely due to my reference to the day Otogakure was approved to begin. He ruffled my hair before he gently nudged me in the direction of my friends. Taking the dismissal for what it was, I made my way over to them. Since I wasn't a good enough sensor to distinguish ground from air when there wasn't any grass underfoot, I had to use a sliding step to keep balance, but I managed a decent pace as I approach the Kiaino crowd.

To call it the Kiaino crowd was something of an exaggeration, though. Of the five people in the group, including myself, only three of us were in the Kiaino clan, and only two of them were by birth. Apparently, Kusemaru had been adopted as an infant. Honden was a Kiaino by blood, though, being the son of the jackass who used Killing Intent on me to make me vomit on my first day. The other two were a pair of kunoichi partners, Kiaino Horobi and Takao.

Horobi had been a shy girl at first, and less than stellar in her classes. As a result, she'd been bullied by some of the more aggressive kunoichi. That changed when Takao wound up being collateral damage in a particularly nasty prank involving a stinkbomb. S _he_ had learned to deal with bullying by pushing back a long time ago, thanks to teasing brought on by black and white striped hair. Hitting a girl with a skunk tail braid using a stink bomb…

Hatori Nezumiko hadn't let her hair grow longer than shoulder length since Takao's rampage.

After that, though, Horobi made a point of spending plenty of time with her new best friend, and introducing her to the family that was in our year. Taking that as permission, Kusemaru had dragged me along as well. Honden had adamantly refused to bring his training partner, claiming he wanted to spare his family from the indignity of his company. I didn't have any classes scheduled with Honden and his partner, so I couldn't tell whether his partner was actually that bad or if Honden was just taking after his father in the 'clan shinobi are always better than non-clan shinobi' mindset.

There was another Kiaino in our year, but I hadn't met her because she was attached to her partner at the hip, and the latter was a sadistic bitch.

Welcome to Oto.

"Hello, Sabeki-san." Kusemaru's voice came from where I could feel his chakra, sitting on a spot of grass with his cousins. Judging by his tone of voice, he was smiling, so I smiled back. "I see you got a new birthday present from Orochimaru-sama."

"Birthday?" That… explained why it was a yearly thing, but it was somewhat distressing. If Orochimaru-sama had enough information about my native village to learn my birthday, he'd also have enough to know I was full of shit if I used knowledge of my past life with an explanation of village memories. Still, I hadn't done anything like that _yet_ , so it was something to avoid rather than something to panic over. "I hadn't realized they were birthday presents."

Honden, who was easier to recognize by voice than by chakra, scoffed. "Dumbass. How do you not know when your birthday is?"

"Everyone who knew when I was born was killed before I was older enough to read a calendar." I frowned and stuffed my hands into the pockets of my jacket, a hoodie in the same gray snakeskin pattern of the lower rank uniforms. They were the sort of jacket I liked to wear in my past life, so having one now was a comfort. It was an inadequate comfort next to the fresh reminder that I was an orphan, though. "Dumbass."

Takao's chakra signature was laying on the grass next to Horobi, and I felt a shift of motion by her head. "Horobi, you mind if I beat the stupid out of your cousin?"

Horobi paused in what I guessed was tuning her zither. The various Otogakure clans all had specialties, and for the Kiaino it was using sound as a medium to inflict jutsu on people. Not just genjutsu, either, which was why Horobi could use something as big as a zither for combat: it launched wind jutsu. It was why they practiced with their instruments in their free time: A combination of notes may as well be a series of hand seals. After a few seconds of Horobi contemplating and Honden's chakra shimmering with tension, she shook her head. "Maybe later. During sparring?"

"That works." Takao's head shifted toward me. At least, I thought it did. I looked toward her, just in case. "So, Sabeki-kun. You rereading your books again?"

"Going to people watch… kind of. Orochimaru-sama wants me to practice sensing outside of class." Four heads bobbed in nods. If Orochimaru-sama wanted something to happen, nobody questioned it, especially not when he was a civilian's throw away. I took up my usual spot to sit and read, favoring a more meditative position than usual. "Unless one of you guys had a better idea for how I could-"

Takao shut up from where she'd been laying on the grass, manic glee in her voice. "We could spar!"

I flinched, and judging by how their chakra rippled the same could be said for Kusemaru and Horobi. Takao fought _dirty_ when she spared. Honden, for his part, just shook his head. "Spar with _you_? On his _birthday_? That'd be cruel."

"Mean, Honden-san." Takao slouched and made a brief motorboat noise with her lips. I, in turn, made a mental note to count that as Honden's birthday present to me. "I'm perfectly capable of playing nice. Besides, free time means contact only."

"Maybe when I'm not working on my sensing, Takao-chan." Still… working with Takao got me thinking. She was one of the kekkei genkai kids, and one of the perks of hers was that she was functionally immune to poison. I moved to take a seat next to her, my curiosity having gotten the better of me. "What do you do for chakra control training, though?"

Heads shifted my way, but it was Kusemaru that spoke up. "Don't we all have the same chakra control training?"

"Drinking poison and cleansing our system?" I gestured toward Takao, and… people in the group were looking around. Takao had started to sit upright, too. "Kind of a waste on Takao-chan here, ne?"

Honden chuckled. "Think it'd be useful for her, actually."

"Not for chakra control, though." Kusemaru's head shifted again, toward where Takao and I were. While normally his tone was friendly, now it was more… contemplative. It'd probably come off as guarded, to anyone who wasn't familiar with him. "Now I'm curious too, Takao-chan."

"Yeah, well I'm curious as to why I'm missing out on a class that's _just_ for drinking poison!" Takao's arms crossed over her chest, and I could just imagine her facial expression. Eight, after all, wasn't too old for pouting. "That sounds awesome!"

"First, all poisons are either tasteless or taste terrible, at least for the ones we train with." I held up one finger, followed by a second finger. The gesturing didn't get her head to shift my way, but since she hadn't been looking at Horobi before it was plausible that I was in her peripheral vision. "Second, your kekkei genkai would just absorb the poison into your body before it could _do_ anything."

Takao snorted through her nose, but then stood up and started walking toward a nearby… apartment? Office building? Whatever it was, I wasn't sensing anyone inside. "It'd be a hell of a lot better for me than this!"

Then she started walking up the wall.

"Well!" I grinned broadly and clapped my hands together, which drew all their attention to me. I still couldn't see with the goggles on, but I glanced over the Kiaino kids anyhow. "I know what Takao-chan's getting me for my birthday this year!"

"What?!" Takao fell off the wall, but I could tell from sensing and hearing that she'd landed correctly. The reaction got a laugh out of Honden, along with light chuckling from the rest of us. She quickly kipped up and turned to face us. "What am I getting you?"

"I want you to show me how to walk on walls."

"Good idea." Honden nodded approvingly. His head shifted, and I was pretty sure he was looking toward Takao now. "I want to learn how to walk on walls too!"

"Go suck a dick!" Classes being based on merit rather than age, we sometimes got to learn concepts and phrases that weren't appropriate for eight year olds. Aside from murder and espionage, anyhow. "It's not your birthday!"

Kusemaru had already turned to face her. "Does that mean you're going to show Sabeki-san how to walk on walls, Takao-chan?"

Takao's chakra shifted in place in a manner I could only guess was fidgeting. After a few seconds of my looking at her expectantly, she relented and waved me over. "Get over here, and hurry up! I'll be surprised if you get it right before the period's done, but maybe we'll be lucky and you'll blow up a wall."

I didn't blow up a wall. I may have ripped a chunk off, but the only explosion was that of laughter from Honden. As a result, I spent the rest of the period watching Takao chase him while Kusemaru and Horobi played chase music. Nice kids, both of them, but on some level every Oto-nin was a troll.

* * *

Knowing that I was expected to graduate early, I did what I could to supplement my training in my free time. Mostly, it was just some light physical exercise in the morning and evening, but I did that without chakra enhancement. According to the medical classes, chakra reserves were based in part on raw physical fitness… and that chakra enhancement slowed muscle development. Considering that the only buff shinobi I could remember were Killer B and a couple Raikage, I could believe it. So, with some exercise in the mornings and evenings, I began working on expanding my chakra reserves.

I'd have to work on cardio, too, once I was good enough at sensing to run unenhanced with the blinders on.

The actual class content… the wall walking lessons continued beyond my birthday, but I still had to deal with poison immunity training. The extra physical exercise I was doing both helped give me the chakra I needed, and made it all the more important that I cleared the poison out _entirely_. Jumping jacks did _not_ mix well with chemically induced vertigo.

Another bad combination was anything that disrupted my ability to think with anything remotely related to Yakushi Kabuto. He was the platonic ideal of the trolling Oto-nin, although whether that was due to his Root training making him as socially dysfunctional as Sai or his just being a dick, I couldn't be certain. What I _could_ be certain of was that after I got doubled up on medical training, he took my lessons a lot more seriously.

My jutsu lessons had expanded from the diagnostic jutsu to the actual mystic palm, which was a remarkably complicated technique. One had to be able to assess where the injury was, which was where the diagnostic jutsu came in. Then, one had to channel healing chakra into the healthy tissue around the wound that would be the foundation for the growth of replacement material. So, if it was a fractured bone, one had to not only channel the healing chakra into the bone, but also keep it contained as it passed through the muscle tissue. Finally, one had to maintain both jutsu at the same time, so that one knew when to _stop_ using mystic palm. As it turned out, side effects may include benign tumors in inconvenient locations.

I was practicing with fish for the time being, but using mystic palm safely on _humans_ would require expansive medical knowledge. So, when students came to Kabuto with injuries, I was there to use diagnostic jutsu on the patient while he provided the healing. This, combined with my sensory abilities watching his use of mystic palm, provided me with a steady stream of examples of how to use the jutsu correctly. When there weren't any patients, he lectured me over an autopsy table.

The bodies could be sorted into two categories. The first category was of those who'd died fighting, with injuries to show for it. They were mostly enemy combatants, but occasionally I would see someone who could've been related to a classmate. The second category, though, had a lower minimum age threshold, and they all seemed to have died of chakra exhaustion… and a fanged bite on their neck. It wasn't terribly surprising that those were the bodies used for exploratory surgery, since they didn't have any lethal wounds mucking up the organs too much. There was only one thing that had really changed there, and I'd be a bad student and a worse shinobi if I didn't ask.

"Kabuto-san?"

"No, no, we're doing lessons now." Kabuto wagged the bloody scalpel in his hand at me in a chastising manner. Why someone with his hand slicing jutsu needed a scalpel, I could only guess. "I'm Kabuto- _sempai_."

"…Kabuto-sempai?" It annoyed me, which was likely the point, but I knew I wouldn't get a straight answer without addressing him as such. He smiled and nodded at the properly applied honorific, so I proceeded to ask my question. "Why don't we practice eye harvests anymore?"

"We practiced eye harvests because there were opportunities to harvest eyes that Orochimaru-sama might consider useful." Kabuto turned his attention back to cleaning the tools as he spoke. We'd just finished an autopsy on what I suspected was an intruder who'd been found dead. There were multiple bites, and the damage indicated spider venom. "The clan with the eyes that Orochimaru-sama was interested in recently fell to a massive attack."

Ah. No point in spreading the knowledge around to more medics than there were Uchiha. My surprise must have shown, because Kabuto glanced at me with an expectant look. "One would think there would be _some_ survivors. There should be civilians in the village if the attack was outside it, or shinobi on missions if it was inside."

"It was inside… and none of them were on missions. The Uchiha, the clan with the eyes? They were mostly used for village defense." I vaguely recalled their being part of some police force, and nodded along with what was said. It explained why it wasn't _completely_ suspicious to the people in the village, then. "Nothing to worry about for you, in any event. Got the report written out, kouhai?"

To the joy of all, I refrained from inflicted violence on Kabuto.

"Yeah." I held the folder up for emphasis. The cover had been laminated, or something similar to that, in order to keep bodily fluids from soaking through and damaging the reports within. "Want me to turn it in?"

Kabuto shook his head. "I have my own notes to add, actually. Go ahead and put your goggles back on and head to… heh. Your next class is your new sparring group, isn't it?"

I didn't dignify that with an immediate response as I grabbed my goggles. Medic training and written work were two areas where eyesight couldn't be substituted out with my other senses. Since neither of those was involved in sparring… my performance there had slid. Not as bad as it had been before I'd discovered chakra enhancement, but apparently the backsliding was enough to knock Kusemaru and I out of the sparring class we'd been in to a new group that Honden was transferring to as well.

I knew the blind fighting thing was a temporary setback. Once I figured out how to anticipate attacks based on chakra rather than sight, and worked reacting to whatever signaled an attack into my reflexes, I'd be back at the top of the group. I'd actually had martial arts training in my previous life, and I'd retained enough that I didn't develop any bad habits in this one.

It was a failure, though, and that bothered me. Worse, Kabuto _knew_ it bothered me, and gave me no end of grief for it when the opportunity presented itself. Luckily, finding out that Honden was transferring in as well had given me a way to worm out of satisfying him.

"With Kiaino Honden, yes." I smirked at him, taking a moment to drink in the look of confusion on his face before I put my goggles on. I was tempted to leave them off long enough to see a scowl, but decided against it. "I'll finally get to meet his illusive partner."

"Would you like to know his name?" Even if I hadn't felt his posture shift, I could _hear_ him perking up from voice alone. Yep, no Sai-cological issues here, Kabuto was pure dick. Only possible explanation at his sheer glee at the prospect of ruining the surprise. "I'm pretty sure he's come my way for medical attention at least once."

"Nope! Don't ruin the surprise!" I immediately made my way out of the medical lab, making a show of putting my fingers in my ears. I still had to walk, because _blind_ , but I made as good a pace as I could safely manage. "Nope, nope, nope!"

I still managed to hear a confused noise behind me as I left, but it wasn't anything that so much as resembled a name, so I ignored it. Instead, I focused on navigating the hall with nothing to guide me but my chakra sense. That basically amounted to finding the border between the natural energy in the air and the natural energy in the ground surrounding the passage, and using that to gauge roughly where the floor was.

My feet hadn't left the ground at any point that I've been wearing these goggles.

Since I hadn't needed to drop off any paperwork at the filing office for the complex, I made my way straight to where Kusemaru's science class. Shinobi science classes were actually a mix of math and science, partly because technology in this world was schizophrenic. Balancing the need for more advanced technology and keeping chakra users as the true military power of the world was a delicate dance, apparently.

By the time I arrived, the class was already getting out. Kusemaru's chakra signature was easy enough to single out from the crowd, and the students pouring out of the room made guessing where the floor and walls were substantially easier. As a result, I was able to maintain the appearance of nonchalance as I came up to the doorway to meet with him.

"Ready to solve a mystery?" Kusemaru didn't immediately react, at least not that I could see, but after a second he gave me a thumbs up. He was very precise in how he formed the gesture, too. It made it easier for me to make out, and it was good practice for him for making handsigns. Which, thankfully, sparring wouldn't require. I nodded my head in the direction of the hall we'd be taking. "Let's go, then."

When we arrived at the class, I felt numerous unfamiliar chakra patterns, and I was tempted to remove the goggles. I'd like to say that the most interesting thing in the room was the hunchback with Honden, but Kusemaru was closer to me, and something in the room made him _flinch_. I leaned toward him, speaking out of the side of my mouth. "Problem?"

"My cousin that you haven't met is here. And if she's here, then her partner will be in our sparring class."

"That would be… the girl who likes pain, ne?" More than a little creepy, especially at our age, but it wasn't terribly surprising. Aside from the clan kids, all the students were _literally_ handpicked by Orochimaru-sama. "She can't be much worse than Takao."

"So nice of you to say so." I turned toward the source of the voice, one in a pair of unfamiliar chakra signatures. Both were on the colder side, but there were flickers of warmth in the one who hadn't spoken. The posture of the colder signature – the colder _girl_ shifted, and she crossed her arms over her chest. "This another one of your cousins?"

"Yeah. Not by blood, though. Adopted." The slightly warmer girl waved idly toward Kusemaru. Her focus, though, I could feel was on me. "Is this asshole your orphan, Kusemaru?"

Kusemaru chuckled nervously and rubbed at the back of his head. "Yeah. To be fair to Sabeki-san, though, he didn't know you two were who I was talking about."

The colder girl scoffed. "What is he, blind?"

I nodded, and tapped at the frame of one of my lenses. "While wearing these, yeah. Sensor training. I'll probably take them off so I can put names to faces before the class is done, but I'm supposed to keep them on as often as I can."

"Sounds like a pain in the ass. Who came up with that?" The cousin, that time.

"Orochimaru-sama."

Chins shifted as the girls looked to Kusemaru for confirmation, who provided it with a nod. After the pair exchanged glances, his cousin spoke up again. "You on the track for early graduation?"

Ah… maybe this class was less of a demotion and more of being thrown into the deep end of the swimming pool. I nodded, since I hadn't kept it a secret from those of her clan I'd already met. "You too?"

"You, me, and Nezumiko." She gestured idly in the direction of another familiar chakra signature. The Kiaino and the Hatori got along… poorly. The Kiaino were shamelessly ambitious, while the Hatori were content and confident in their superiority. Put kids of both clans together in the same room… well. Attitudes of becoming better tended to clash with attitudes of innate superiority. Judging by her tone toward Nezumiko, she wasn't an exception to the rivalry. "At this point, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there's one of us in every pair here."

There was a flicker of chakra, and an adult was suddenly in the room. My head snapped their way, because the trail of chakra that lead back to where they came in from ended at a point within my range where there distinctly had _not_ been chakra of that magnitude. I'd have to add figuring out a way to beat chakra suppression to the list of refinements I'd need to come up with before I graduated from the Academy.

"Listen carefully, brats. You are to address me as Guren-sensei." That name was… vaguely familiar. Was she the villain of some minor arc? "About half of you are under consideration for early graduation. You'll be in the rotation. Those of you who are _partners_ to someone who's under consideration will be part of the combat pool that those in the rotation will fight. Individuals in the rotation will start with two opponents at once, a number that will increase once they prove that they can consistently win against whatever number of opponents they're currently assigned. In order to relieve strain on the pool, occasionally the rotation student who's up will spar with me. Sabeki! This is an order. No using those goggles in my class. You'll need every advantage you can get."

Well, far be it from me to refuse that order. As I started to remove the goggles, Guren-sensei started shouting names. "The combat pool will consist of Kiaino Kusemaru, Kiaino Honden, Tsuchi Kin, Hatori Kigiri, Kinuta Dosu, and Dosuji Tsu. The rotation will consist of Sabeki, Sakon, Ukon, Kiaino Tayuya, Jirobo, Hatori Tetsubo, and Hatori Nezumiko. The first match will put Sabeki against Kusemaru and… Kin, since she's nearby. Any questions?"

Yeah, I had a question. Why couldn't I go a straight week without _fearing for my life?_


End file.
